Talking Green Mortgages

Green mortgages are mortgage deals available to people who buy environmentally-friendly homes or make energy-efficient home improvements to their property. These deals have been around for several years, but they’re only now beginning to take off

Under a green mortgage, a bank or mortgage lender offers a house buyer preferential terms if they can demonstrate that the property for which they are borrowing meets certain environmental standards. This could perhaps be a new build home with an existing sustainability rating, or where the borrower will commit to invest in renovating an existing building to improve its environmental performance. In other words, a green mortgage is a mortgage specifically targeted at green buildings.

As an incentive for the borrower to either buy a green building or to renovate an existing one to make it greener, banks would offer them either a lower interest rate or an increased loan amount.

If the home you want to buy has an energy efficiency rating of 81 or above, or is in energy efficiency bands A or B, you could get lower rates on some fixed-term mortgages.

Whether you're buying for the first time or already have a mortgage, you're eligible as long as you’re buying the property to live in.

You can find out if your new home is energy efficient

Any new home will need a valid Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of A or B to be eligible to select a Green Mortgage product. You can check your homes Energy Performance Rating here Energy Efficiency Rating